NHL ACTION FIGURE SCHEDULE RECONFIGUREDThe Good News? New Goalie Three-Pack on the ScheduleFriday, January 14, 2005

It's been a tough few months for our hockey fans, having to move on without actual live NHL games to watch. The work stoppage has far-reaching effects and with the current climate cold to the sport (no pun intended) McFarlane Toys has shifted some of our release dates accordingly.

Our NHL 10 series has been put "on hold" for the time being. A lot of work was put into NHL 10 and there is no doubt the full line will have a worldwide release as soon as the real-life players are back on the ice.

That doesn't mean there won't be new NHL Sports Picks coming out this year, though. Our second series of NHL Legends hits stores in April. The sequel to last fall's successful debut includes two Wayne Gretzky figures, as well as Hall-of-Famers Phil Esposito, Grant Fuhr, Jean Beliveau and Mike Bossy.

In May, Wal-Mart Canada will offer a boxed set containing three of the league's top goalies: Toronto's Ed Belfour, new Ottawa goaltender Dominik Hasek and Panthers backstop Roberto Luongo wearing his Team Canada jersey. We are also working on a way to offer this package direct to our American hockey fans. Photos will be available soon.

This summer's NHL 11 series will be released as planned. This yearly off-season line is sold at mass retail exclusively in Canada, but will be available to U.S. and international collectors through our online store at spawn.com. NHL 11 contains Calgary's Miikka Kiprusoff, Edmonton's Ales Hemsky, Vancouver's Ed Jovanovski, Montreal's Michael Ryder, Toronto's Joe Nieuwendyk and Winnipeg's Nikolai Khabibulin. Photos of this series will be available very shortly.

McFarlane Toys remains committed to our hockey product and especially our rabid hockey collectors; we hope this small shift will work for all parties involved.